Ideas on Decorating Storage Baskets and Bins

Add a shot of color to wicker with fabric liners or paint.

Add some color to your clutter busters by decorating your storage baskets and bins. Yes, baskets and bins are useful when you're organizing every part of your house, from the pantry to the bathroom closet, but they are often hidden behind closed doors because their utility far outweighs their attractiveness. These workhorses need a makeover so that they can corral clutter out in the open, alongside your mason jars and candy buffet jars.

No Rest for the Wicker

Reinvent your tired wicker baskets with fabric liners. Use your favorite fabrics to create custom liners that fit your style, such as black-and-white trellis fabric for a contemporary living space or creamy white toile for a French Country kitchen. If you're not handy with a sewing machine, improvise with table linens. Drape two linen napkins, one over each side of the basket and allow it to overlap the other in the middle. Cover that overlap with fresh fruit to create a centerpiece for the dining table or with magazines for a charming magazine basket for the coffee table.

Child's Play

Storage bins and children's toys go together like peanut butter and chocolate, and quite possibly, you may find peanut butter, chocolate or both on the toys. Instead of buying new bins, make your own with items from your recycling bin. Empty diaper and diaper-wipes boxes are often made of cardboard that is sturdy but not attractive. Help the children wrap the bins with construction paper, either the same shade or in a rainbow of colors. Encourage the children to decorate the cardboard covers with artwork that describes the bin's contents such as hand-drawn cars on bins for toy cars or drawings and stickers of building blocks on bins for blocks.

Fantastic Plastic

Plastic storage bins aren't only widely available, but are often affordable. However, they are usually made of plastic, which doesn't lend itself to creating a decorative statement. Dress them up with a coat or two of paint. Lightly sand the entire bin with sandpaper and finish with one or two coats of a spray paint that is made specifically for use on plastics. Use chartreuse or orange to lend shots of vibrant color to contemporary spaces or dark cranberry for country spaces. Create a complete look with other baskets by using a spray paint that can also be used on metal and wicker.

Chalk It Up

Transform your metal, wicker and plastic baskets and bins with chalkboard decorative accents that can easily be removed when the mood strikes. Affix chalkboard stickers to plastic bins that hold your pantry and linen closet items. Tie chalkboard gift tags to the handles of wicker baskets or through the holes of metal locker-style bins. Number the tags for bins used in mud rooms or write down the bin's contents for use in media cabinets or kitchen cabinets. Use a white colored pencil or paint instead of chalk, which tends may flake off the stickers or tags.

About the Author

Lowell, Massachusetts-based writer Kris Gleba has been writing home decor articles since 2008. She enjoys all aspects of small home living, from complete gut remodels to ingenius home decorating that incorporates style and function. She has previously written for the “Athol Daily News.” She holds a degree in professional writing from Fitchburg State University.